Allied bombers launch air raid on Rome, July 19, 1943

On this day in 1943, 521 Allied bombers launched an air raid on Rome, resulting in thousands of civilian casualties. In the morning, U.S. B-17 Flying Fortresses attacked the San Lorenzo freight yard and steel factory. In the afternoon, another wave bombed Littorio Airport on the city’s northern flank. The final target was Ciampino airport on its southeast side.

After the raid, Pope Pius XII, along with Giovanni Battista Montini (the future Pope Paul VI), went to the Basilica di San Lorenzo fuori le Mura, which had been badly damaged, to distribute 2 million lira to the throng.

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In May, some three months before the German Army occupied the city, Pius XII had written to President Franklin D. Roosevelt asking that Rome “be spared as far as possible further pain and devastation, and their many treasured shrines … from irreparable ruin.”

Roosevelt replied: “Attacks against Italy are limited, to the extent humanly possible, to military objectives. We have not and will not make warfare on civilians or against non-military objectives. In the event it should be found necessary for Allied planes to operate over Rome, our aviators are thoroughly informed as to the location of the Vatican and have been specifically instructed to prevent bombs from falling within Vatican City.”

Three days before the air raid, Roosevelt had called on the Italians to dump their leader, Benito Mussolini, and “live for Italy and civilization.” The raid, the U.S. War Department said, should be viewed “as an incentive.”

On Aug. 14, 1943, the day after the last Allied bombs fell on Rome, New York’s Cardinal Francis Spellman announced that Rome would henceforth be an open city. On June 4, 1944, the Eternal City was liberated from German occupation, an event overshadowed in history by the D-Day landings in Normandy two days later.